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By Ike A. Offor,The unique business model created by the Igbo enhanced by the century-old community unity or sense of collectiveness, has gained global business world equity and venture capitalists’ attention.

This business market model is based on “sharing principle”, a model that has come down centuries in Igbo culture and never seen among any other tribe in African continent. The sharing capital is given a good mentioned in the globally famed novel of late Prof. Chinua Achebe. In that world-famous novel by the late literary icon, who also was of the same tribe of the Igbo of Africa, describes how this system simply works.

Alaba International market

This system by the Igbo grants opportunity to those who cannot afford to start-up business or any trade in life to find someone who could train them in such skill or trade and the person or “master” will help them to set up their new trade or business.

In the “Things Fall Apart”, it was the practice in which young adult males, or newly married ones would go to an established yam farmer and ask to work free for the farmer, in return he settles the young farmer with new yam seeds. This new yam seeds become his compensation based on basic sharing principle. The great Okonkwo did get his own yam seeds from another established farmer since his own father was considered lazy and did not leave any barn of yam for him to grow from.

The interesting thing is that the same principle is mentioned in the Holy Bible among the Hebrews or Jews. It was the very same way Jacob married his wife Rachael after serving her father for a specific number of years. There was mentions of how these were used by the Jews to acquire livestocks, from which they grew their livestock business.

This system has been with the Igbo since their origin, but it has now attracted the world business venture capitalists’ attention due to its phenomenal success in places like Alaba International market cited in this video or any other markets wherever the Igbo people carry out their trades in and around the world.

The Igbo are the only tribe in the entire global that engage in such market principle of sharing. This has made the Igbo people very successful in any business they ventured into. It does not matter what kind of business, they simply apply the same principle over and over again. This also defines why they are considered a very united tribe in Africa. This sense of “sharing principle” is also how they develop their towns, build schools and hospitals for their respective communities without the help of the bad leadership in Nigeria.

Alaba International market

The Igbo communities simply either ask everyone to contribute or the affluent ones among them would willingly pool their financial strength together and provide whatever their communities need. This is why the Igbo hardly look up to the government to provide amenities for them, they rather do it themselves via collective, or sharing principles culture, which they apply also in trade or business.

This behind the scene principle that enables every successful Igbo business to grow, is based on this common principles of pooling efforts together and growing together. One wonders what else is unity or unitedness.

The Igbo apprenticeship based on sharing principle is simply explained this way. The young person who is aspiring to be a business person goes to any established or successful business person of the specific trade or business he or she is interested in and ask the person to accept him or her to serve for a specific or agreed number of years.

The “master” or the business owner, now will train this person for say five years, and after the agreed period, he or she will pay off this trainee with amount enough for him or her to rent a shop for at least one to three years and in many cases enough to even stock up his or her new shop.

Also, the master could allow him or her in most cases to do what the Igbo called “oso ahia”. This is simply obtaining certain goods at specific price from the master and selling it above the real price and balances the master his own price and he or she takes the extra profit made. These are ways the Igbo create wealth for themselves, and these ways not only sharpen their business acumen, they create also enormous wealth for them.

If you still wonder how this tribe of Igbo are able to establish business in such fast rate and succeed, this is one of their basic principles and perhaps the core principle of their success, apart from sheer hard work and shrewd hardcore business management skill based on thriftiness while growing their businesses.Subscribe to The Republican News. Advertise with us. Call us for press release, enquiries. Email editor @alexikeoffor, call us +2348189650279, +32497220468, +32466100102